Strengthen Your Family Bonds
Family is supposed to be your safe place. But when communication breaks down, when old wounds keep reopening, when everyone seems to be speaking a different language—family can become a source of pain rather than support.
Maybe you're navigating a blended family, struggling with adult children, or trying to co-parent after separation.
Whatever brings you here: Families can heal. Patterns can change. Connection can be rebuilt.
What Brings Families Here
I work with families navigating:
Blended Family Challenges
Integrating two families, step-parent relationships, loyalty conflicts, different parenting styles, creating new family identity
Co-Parenting After Separation
Communication breakdowns, different approaches, children caught in the middle, creating consistency across households
Adult Children & Parent Relationships
Strained relationships, unresolved wounds, boundary issues, differing values, aging parent challenges
Communication Breakdowns
Not listening to each other, constant misunderstandings, shutting down, explosive arguments
Unresolved Conflicts & Old Wounds
Resentments that build over time, family rifts, sibling conflicts, perceived unfairness
Major Life Transitions
Divorce, grief and loss, new baby, children leaving home, relocation, aging parents needing care
Intergenerational Patterns
Breaking cycles you don't want to repeat, transgenerational trauma, healing family wounds
My Approach
How I Work With Families
The foundation: Our deepest need is for emotional connection and safety from the people who matter most. When family relationships become a source of pain, it affects everything.
How we'll work: I draw from evidence-based approaches including Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Satir Family Systems, and Imago Therapy—focusing on emotional validation, empathy, and creating secure bonds within your family system.
This isn't about taking sides. It's about understanding how each person experiences the family dynamics and what everyone needs.
What to Expect in Family Therapy
A space where everyone feels safe enough to be honest. Ground rules that allow difficult conversations to happen without damage.
Exploring patterns, roles, and unspoken rules—often, destructive behaviours are attempts to protect ourselves or get needs met.
- Communicate without defensiveness
- Recognize and break unhealthy patterns
- Create secure emotional bonds
- Validate each other's experiences
- Repair ruptures and rebuild trust
You don't have to keep passing the pain down. Together we can break cycles and create new patterns for future generations.
Special Focus Areas
Click to learn more about each area:
Blending families is one of the most challenging transitions—you're integrating different histories, loyalties, rules, and relationships.
We'll address:
- Children feeling torn between biological parents and step-parents
- Establishing authority and respect with step-children
- Different parenting styles causing conflict
- Creating new family identity while honoring what came before
- Managing jealousy and "yours vs. mine" dynamics
The goal: A family system where everyone feels they belong.
When a relationship ends, the parenting relationship continues—but communication is often at its worst.
We'll work on:
- Reducing conflict and keeping children out of the middle
- Creating consistency across two households
- Communicating about children without rehashing the relationship
- Supporting children through the transition
The goal: Putting children's needs first while maintaining boundaries and reducing conflict.
The shift from parenting children to relating as adults is rarely talked about—and incredibly difficult.
We'll address:
- Shifting from parent-child to adult-adult dynamics
- Healing old wounds without blame
- Establishing healthy boundaries that honor autonomy
- Respecting differences while maintaining connection
The goal: Adult relationships based on mutual respect and genuine connection—not obligation or old patterns.
Why me
Why Work With Me
I understand complex family systems
Over a decade working with diverse families—blended, separated, multi-generational, and cross-cultural.
I honor cultural differences
Family norms vary widely across cultures; I create space for yours.
I don't take sides
I help everyone be heard and find ways forward together.
I create safety for difficult conversations
The stakes are high; I help you have the conversations you've been avoiding.
How We Work Together
Sessions: 90 minutes, weekly or bi-weekly
Who attends: Depends on goals—sometimes whole family, sometimes specific members
The process:
- Initial consultation — Discuss what's happening and who should be involved
- Assessment — Understand your family system, patterns, and goals
- Active work — Build new communication, heal wounds, create secure bonds
- Consolidation — Make changes sustainable
Between sessions: Access to my Client Library with tools you can use at home.
